The United Socialist States of Sheradia is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by President Thomas Richmond with an even hand, and notable for its rampant corporate plagiarism, parental licensing program, and national health service. The compassionate, democratic population of 16.158 billion Sheradians enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, liberal morass — juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Free Haven. The average income tax rate is 98.8%.

The strong Sheradian economy, worth a remarkable 1,993 trillion florins a year, is extremely specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Tourism. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 123,399 florins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.4 times as much as the poorest.

The country's population is reported with a margin of error of several billions, for the sake of 'public interest' news programs tell viewers how to home-make Sarin gas bombs, every new building project has to undergo a five-year environmental impact study before it can go ahead, and business owners return from long vacations to find their factories have been turned into homeless shelters. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Sheradia's national animal is the Teddy Bear, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.